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Adding "vs. AI mode"

Hello everyone,

As we all know TBS:F suffers from lack of the online players and that count gets even less because the newbies can't find adversaries on the low levels. I see that some new players come to the game but are not able to play.

My suggestion is to introduce AI to the game so low levels can at least can play against AI and gain renown/levels. So at least TBS:F will not lose newbies and online player count might get higher. Besides all players might benefit from this feature by practicing and testing new setups against AI. Since the single player already has AI I think it won't be difficult to add that feature to the TBS:F.

We might add the separate "VS. AI" mode or add the optional tick mark to the QM/RM saying "match me against AI after searching longer than 5 minutes".

Yes, this has been one of the most unanimous suggestions for Factions.

However, Stoic has made it clear that they will not actively support Factions until they are done with all parts of the single-player campaign. TBS2 is coming in a couple of months (?), then ports to mobile/console etc will follow, and then the same cycle for TBS3... Stoic have mentioned looking for somebody to support Factions "on the side", but that hasn't come to fruition yet. So, as things are, the safest bet is that nothing will change in Strand for another two years.

Finally, transferring the AI from the single-player to Factions at this time is no easy task: The sp-game engine has dramatically "evolved" compared to the factions engine which is collecting dust for almost 3 years now. If you know anything about software, you can guess how troublesome is going back to old/obsolete/legacy code...

The problem is that this needs to be done before TBS3 or factions will lose even more players and there will be less than 5 players online. I wanna think that hope of better future for factions still remains

Well I've just created my account to seek for some news but it seems to be cold arround here, also in Steam discussions too.

So as a fan I'm really waiting for definitive news about Factions game. It's one of the best games I've ever played, so I'm here because it has engaged me a lot. So a wish to point some of the things I find being pretty nice including to the game, also bringing the idea of a Factions 2 game with all the top community wishes:
- Most important of all: vs. AI/bot mode. I think this mode should even come with a less renown bonus than playing real opponents.
- More RPG (and even MOBA) elements: more variety of items; cutomizable items with enchanments and runes; character visual customization; improved skilltree; also I think 1 item per character is already a good idea balanced with I'ts own renown level but as I said an option to customize the item itself;
- More terrain interaction and obstacles;
- Option to recruit members of any of the races to your team or at least use any of the races available;
- Co-op or 2x2;
- Multiplayer factions and servers, players have to travel arround the map, complete quests, protect and feed their tribe;
- Also with the idea above, option to upgrade your camp;
- More Tribe tasks and management;
- Have a public "to do list" into the main website to keep the fans updated with the work.

I've engaged on this game because of the medieval viking (pre-christian) theme, amazing sounds, amazing art, fluid and easy gameplay, and at the same time tactics can be very complex and hard to beat. I really love to play all TBS games so far.

In the meantime I'm playing The Great Whale Road, but it doesn't come even close as the engine of Stoic, that's why I'm here pointing.

Thank you Stoic for this epic series, I express my topics here because I really enjoy it and would play this game forever if possible, thousands of hours easily.

Sorry for the delayed response (also for the delay in getting your post/thread "approved" to publicly show-up), but as you observed things are quite slow here... Stoic are in the process of upgrading the forums, so hopefully they'll see more activity soon. In the meantime, do join the BannerSaga Discord server and discuss #Factions in the dedicated channel.

The topics you raise, about making Factions "more" and "better", are all valid and we (the community) have asked for them hundreds of times... Alas, Stoic is a small studio, so they're currently focusing on finishing the single-player campaign (with the third and final part of the trilogy in the making). Our hope is that they'll have the stamina and willpower to see to Factions. I don't think their plan is to expand on the current state of the game (whose source-code is quite outdated, quasi-obsolete, at this time), but rather make a game in the same spirit: {tactical turn based combat, online, multiplayer (PvP)}, but also make a lot of changes and additions. Fingers crossed on this one